"Who's ready to go to Mars up there?"
That's the question President Donald Trump had for astronauts Peggy Whitson and Jack Fischer, who are aboard the International Space Station. Trump called to congratulate Whitson on breaking a space record.
But the video conference quickly turned to Mars and questions about when the astronauts thought humans would make it to the red planet.
"Well, as I think your bill directed, it'll be approximately in the 2030s," Whitson told Trump.
"Well, we want to try and do it during my first term, or at worst, during my second term, so we'll have to speed that up a little bit, OK?" Trump said.
It's unlikely humans will make it to Mars by 2024 — the last full year of Trump's possible second term. But Trump's not the only one hoping to reach the planet by then. That also happens to be the year Elon Musk says he wants to launch SpaceX's first manned mission to the red planet.
